HAPPY BIRTHDAY EBBETS FIELD

Today would of been the 100th Anniversary of the opening of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. In 1913, the Brooklyn Superbas (pre-Dodgers) lost to Philadelphia 1-0 in front of a crowd of 10,000. Had Ebbets Field remained, it's 100th birthday would of been between two other ballparks, Fenway and Wrigley.

There are many reminders of Ebbets Field. Citi-Field had been constructed in Ebbets' likeness. The Mets owner Fred Wilpon went to Lafeyette High School in Brooklyn. His classmate and good friend just happens to be Sandy Koufax. The Brooklyn Nets placed a flagpole from Ebbets in front of the Barclay Center. The Barclays Center was built on the exact site where O'Malley wanted to put a new stadium for the Dodgers before he moved them to Los Angeles.

The Nets honored the 100th anniversary of Ebbets Field by displaying the 1955 Championship Flag on the court prior to their game against the Philadelphia 76ers. How ironic on the 100th Anniversary a Brooklyn team is playing a Philadelphia team, only this time Brooklyn prevailed.

The blueprints for Ebbets Field are stored in an archive in Manhattan. These blueprints helped the movie people in getting Ebbets Field correct for the upcoming movie 42.

Vin Scully, who has been broadcasting the Dodgers since 1950 tells a story of how intimate Ebbets Field was, "Because every day you would see the same people in the box seats. They'd wave up, they'd say hello. Hilda Chester, who once hollered at me that she loved me, which embarrassed me and I lowered my head. Hilda hollered up at me and said. "Look at me when I'm talking to you." It must of been a great place to see a ball game.

Ebbets Field did not stand much longer after the Dodgers left but it has taken on an afterlife that no extinct ballpark has ever done.

ROAD TO THE DERBY

The Wood Memorial and the Santa Anita Derby are two of the bigger prep races for The Derby. The Wood Memorial being run at Aqueduct in NYC and the Santa Anita being run at the Great Race Place.

The Wood Memorial has Todd Pletcher's trained horse Verrazano, who is going off as the 4-5 favorite. This three year old has been touted as the big name in The Derby. If he performs well in The Wood, he will definitely be the odds on favorite come May 4th.

Verrazano has had three starts as a three year old and he has gone 3 for 3. He has won all three races by a combined 27 lengths. I believe that his biggest competition in this race is going to be Vyjack, who has won his last four starts. I liked the move of putting Joel Rosario on this horse. Rosario is a great rider and he has a way of calming the horses down in big situation. Vyjack is 4-1 on the morning line. Post time is approximately 3:30 PM (PT).

Going across the country to the Great Race Place, a big scratch came in. Jerry Hollendorfer's trained Hear the Ghost has been scratched and will be out for at least four months. This means that Hear the Ghost will miss The Derby. Hear the Ghost was supposed to give Bob Baffert's trained Flashback some good competition. Besides Flashback, Bob Baffert has two other horses entered into this race, Power Broker and Super Ninety Nine. This is definitely going to fuel the feud between Baffert and Drug, I mean, Doug O'Neill.  Goldencents has been entered for the Santa Anita and let's see if O'Neill complains that Baffert is having his horses gang up on his one. This makes for an interesting side bar now that Hear the Ghost has been scratched. Depending on how this race plays out, all four of these horses can win this race. The Santa Anita Derby goes off at approximately 4:00 PM (PT)

NBS Sports Network is going to have these races live, they should be good races to watch, especially if you have interest in The Derby on May 4th.

OPENING DAY

Can the Yankees overcome an injury riddled roster? Can the Yankees deep pitching staff keep them close until some of the injured come back? Can the starting pitching perform as well as it did last year?

Today is going to be the last Opening Day for the great Mariano Rivera and the last Opening Day that the number 42 is going to be worn by any baseball player.

The Yankees will be taking on the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium to start the 2013 season. Their line-up is not what we are used to but it might be a line-up we have to get used to.

The starting line-up is this:

Brett Gardner - CF
Eduardo Nunez - SS
Robinson Cano - 2B
Kevin Youkalis - 1B
Vernon Wells - LF
Ben Francisco - DH
Ichiro - RF
Jayson Nix - 3B
Francisco Cervelli - C
C.C. Sabathia - P

Right now on Opening Day, everyone is in first place.